County may get more inmates

Gloucester County would close its jail, transfer inmates to Cumberland in proposal

Mar. 12, 2013

Written by

Lucas K. Murray

Courier-Post Staff

BRIDGETON — The county jail here could soon house inmates from Gloucester County under a proposal freeholders from both counties are considering this week.

Freeholders in Gloucester and Cumberland counties will vote Wednesday on a measure that would shutter the Woodbury jail on Hunter Street this summer and transfer male inmates to an underutilized facility in Bridgeton, saving an estimated $8 million in the first year as part of a shared services agreement.

It costs county taxpayers $28 million annually to guard, house, clothe and feed those incarcerated at the Gloucester County Jail in Woodbury.

“Corrections is one of the most costly services and regionalizing jails has been something other counties throughout the country have been successfully doing,” said Gloucester County Freeholder Director Robert Damminger.

“With the budget stretched so thin and the drastic reduction we are facing in ratable and revenues, this is the right time to be moving ahead with this shared services agreement.”

“Gloucester sees savings, we see a source of revenue to help fill the budget gap,” said Cumberland Freeholder Director William Whelan. “They have excess capacity, we have one pocket at the jail that’s not even being used at all.”

“We think by taking them in we can take in funds,” Whelan said.

As of Monday, the Gloucester County Jail housed 270 inmates. Figures from Cumberland County show about 440 inmates are being held at the 550-bed prison.

Potential population overflow would be handled by other counties, officials said.

But dozens of Gloucester County Department of Corrections employees could find themselves out of work. Sheriff Carmel Morina stands to lose a quarter of his uniformed officers under the proposal, as his staff is cut from 120 to 33. The officers conduct prisoner transports and home detention details.

An unspecified number of transfers to Cumberland County would be made available.

“I would like to reaffirm the sheriff department’s commitment to its local county police departments, that it will continue to provide uninterrupted transportation services to intake at any correctional facility that an inmate may be remanded,” Morina said.

(Page 2 of 2)

“Municipal police departments should then be assured that they will not have to transport those in their custody out of county. The Gloucester County Sheriff’s Department will provide those transportation services.”

Non-uniformed staff — including cooks, nurses and clerical staff — could transfer to other county agencies, officials said.

This is not the first time Gloucester County has outsourced its corrections services. In 2010, it partnered with Salem, Camden and Cumberland to have female inmates sent to those three counties, eliminating 16 jobs and the need for the women’s correctional facility in Clarksboro.

The year before, Gloucester County paired with Camden County to send its juvenile offenders to the Lakeland Facility in Gloucester Township’s Blackwood.

“The county has had positive results with regionalizing the juvenile facility in 2009 and the women’s facility in 2010, each saving over $1.8 million annually,” Damminger said. “This is the next natural progression.”

Wheland said for every 100 inmates his county handles from its neighbors to the north, there would be an approximate net revenue of $2.5 million without creating additional expenses.

“Every proactive and creative revenue generation for Cumberland County cannot be overlooked as the traditional ways of doing business are no longer efficient and effective today,” he added. “Excess capacity and economies of scale make this a very viable option for our county.”

Bridgeton is roughly 40 miles from downtown Woodbury and the county’s justice complex. Even though Camden is eight miles from Woodbury, Camden County officials said a shared services agreement with Gloucester County wasn’t an option in housing a larger male prison population.

“There’s no facility space to share,” spokesman Dan Keashen said. “That would go back to the fact this is a much different area than either two of those counties (Gloucester and Cumberland) in terms of population volume and simply being build out.”

You will automatically receive the TheDailyJournal.com Top 5 daily email newsletter. If you don't want to receive this newsletter, you can change your newsletter selections in your account preferences.